Elastic wheel.



` L. L. B. DENIS.

BLASTIG WHEEL. APPLIUATION FILED mi. 29, laos.

1,107,916. Patented Aug. 1(8191L s SHEETS-SHEET 1.

ww I f .nam/5.9.956-

L. L. B. DENIS.

ELASTIG WHEEL. APPLIUA'IJIONIILED JAN. 29, 1908.

1,107,916. l Patented Aug. 18, 1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET Z.

L. L. B. DENIS.

ELASTIG WHEEL.

APPLIGATION FILED Lunas, 190B.

1,107,916. Patented Aug. 18, 1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

LUC LEON BASILE DENIS, PARIS, FRANCE.

ELASTIC WHEEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 18, 1914.

Application filed January 29, 1908. Serial No. 413,179.

' To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, LUC LEON BASILE DENIS, of 155 Boulevard devMnilmontane, in the city of Paris, Republic of France, civil engineer,have invented an Elastic Wheel, of which the following is a full, clear,and exact description.

This invention relates to an elastic wheel for motor cars or lothervehicles.'

This wheel is characterized by the fact that the rigid rim is connectedto the h'ub through the agency of a transversely elastic connection socombined that all the parts of this elastic connection will work inthesame manner and will be submitted to the vsame stresses, when thewheel rotates as Well as when it is at res Contrarily to what happenswith certain spring wheels in which each spring is successively-compressed. and slackened at each revolution of the wheel, the tensionof the parts constituting the present elastic connection is in no wayaltered as long as the Wheel rolls on a perfectly smooth sur ace and,consequently, this elastic connection does not` effect any useless workand there is no useless wearing of the springs due to successivestretching or slackening other than that due to inequalities of theroad. The present elasticconnection alsomaintains the rim strictly inthe plane of the wheel as` it is a device, and, therefore, eliminatesall sides or other means ordinarily used for maintaining the rimin thepla-ne o f the wheel and which ar'e objectionable on ,account of dust,sand, gravel from the roads getting between the sliding surfaces.

. which In the present-wheel, the elastic device connecting the rim'andthe hub",l and which is 'attached to the latter vis so arranged as toexert upon the whole periphery of the web of the 'rim and upon itstwo-faces, stresses are directed at right angles to the latter when. thecenter of the rim registers with the axis of the hub. Whenever this concentric position-isl disturbedV under the iniluen'ce of the load," orthe inequalities of the road, etc., the said stresses become oblique butparallel in direction and' of equal size and they tend to bring back thecenter of the rim toward the axis of thehub.

The accompanying drawing shows by way of example several modes ofconstruction of the elastic wheel.

Figures l and 2 show the wheel in cross vertical section and inelevation respectively disks i in the position of rest, that is to saywhen the hub has no load to bear. Figs. 3 and 4 are similar viewsshowing the position of the parts when the hub carries a load. Figs. 5,6 and 7, are sectional views of modiiications, and Figs. 8 and 9 aresectional views showing other modifications.

The wheel represented in Figs. 1 to 4 comprises a rigid rim a of anygiven section connected with the hub b through a transv ersely elasticdevice constituted by two side members each composed of concentric c,c', o2, c3, 04 of steel sheet of di'erent diameters and superposed inthe same way as 'the different blades of a carriage spring; these disksare secured to the hub b by means of bolts d, as shown on the drawing,orthey maybe secured by any other suitable means.

Each disk c is provided near its periphery with a number of sphericalrecesses or cavities c and similar recesses or cavities f are providedon both sides of the web of the rim 'a so as to come opposite therecesses f of the rim when' the center of the latter registers with theaxis of the hub b as 1 and 2. Balls Vg are interposed between therecesses e and f. The radius lof these balls is smaller than the radiusofv the sphericalcavities or shown in Figs.

` recesses.

The disks c c c2 c3 c* constituting the two elastic side members aremounted 1n such a manner-as to exert a lateral pressure upon the rimthrough the medium of the recesses .e and f and of the balls said.recesses.

g arranged in the When the hub b has no load to support,

Kthe wheel being placed fiat-wise, for instance,

in its settin position, the balls g under the influence o the initialpressure excited by the side members, are caused to 4arrange themselvesexactly `in the middle of the recessese f byforcing the latter to comeexactly opposite eachother, thereby causing the center of the rim toregister with the axis of the hub, as shown in Figs. l and 2.

` When a vertical stress is exerted upon the hub b, while the rim a. isresting on the ground, the hub will be lowered carrying down the cheeksand the recesses e, the balls g then take the position shown in Figs. 3

and 4, by forcing outwardly the elastic side members. If the loadedwheel. now rolls uponva plane surface, the balls g willsroll in theirrecesses and describe a circle, the radius P.of which is equal to thedisplacement of the center of these balls, Fig. 3, with reference to theaxis of the recesses f under the action of the vertical stress exertedupon the hub b.

From the above described construction it will be observed that:

1st. During the motion of the wheel on a plane surface, the edges of thedisks c maintain the same spacing and consequentlyV the tension of lthetwo side' members remains constant.

2nd. The rim is maintained inthe middle plane of the wheel between thetwo side membersgwhich are mounted "as above described in such a manneras to constantly exert a lateral pressure upon the two faces of the rimand thus insure the guiding thereof.

3rd, The rim is always brought back to ward the center of the hub owing,to the dispositionA of lthe recesses, and the stress whichl isnecessaryA to romove it from thisv position increases with thecorresponding amount of motion away from it.

4th. v'Besides its relative motion in the plane of the wheel, the rimcan have-a slight circumferential motion in relation to the as well. asin its radial motiom Consequently, when 'acting as a driving wheel, itWorks as an all-round' shock-absorber.l

5th. The wheel ossesses a certain lateral elasticity and 'if tli lateralvstress (when bumping against van obstacle for instance) ,l this stressis transmitted by the rim to the cheek c opposite to the side where thestress 4occurs and it increasesthe tension on this cheek,- while thelother cheek yexpandsowing to its linitial tension, and follows the rimthus lpreventing the balls from escaping out of the recesses.

6th. Theamount of resiliency of the rim for a given tension of the ysidemembers can be proportioned at will and a greater or lesser strain uponthe rim can beiobtained at l same timebyyarying the depth of the re-llcesses and' maintaining the same balls, or else by giving to thesecavitiesa shape other than the sphere, providedfthesurfaoe of thiscavity be always a surface ofrevolution, the cavity could for instancebe a hollow cone, in this case, the tension on .the side membersincreases proportionally to the vertical stress, but the spherical shapeis'the most convenient on account of its 'being easily manufactured andbecause with this shape, the amount of resilient motion does notincrease in the same proportion as the vertical stress.

In the vmodification illustrated in Fig. 5', the two elastic sidemembers fastened to the hubare braced by means of a ring ,7o concentricwith the hub b and upon which the disks'c, c', c2, constituting theseside members are bolted. This construction increases the stiffness ofthe side members and decreases the length of the elastic part thereof.A

In the modification illustrated in Fig. 6

in this e rim is submitted to ai the elastic side members are shownsecured tcan internal-rim Z carried by the hub.

In the modification illustrated4 in Fig) 7 the side members instead ofbeing formed of disks, can be formed of washers fm, fulcrumed. on oneedge against shoulders a with which the internal rim Z is provided, andon the other edge upon rings o on the internal face of which recesses eare provided. f

The improvement can-be applied to wheels of all kinds and sizes. l

Wheels may also be made having a plurality of independent rims connectedwith a common hub, each` rim having itsV own elastic connection fastenedto said hub as shown in Fig. 8.

The wheel may also comprise a single rim provided with two ormoreelastic connections integral with the hub, -as shown in Fig. 9.

Certain ofthe constructions which were originally disclosed in thisapplication and which have been eliminated are broadly covered in myco-pending application, Se-

rial No. 822,290, filed March 4th,191ll.

Claims:` 1 l. An elastic wheel, comprising a rigid rim provided on itsinternal face with a medial web having recesses in its faces adjacent tothe rim, a hub, two elastic side members, secured to the hub andextending on opposite sides of the web of the rim, each side memberbeing rovided in its internal face adjacent to tif recesses opposite therecesses of the said web,

. and balls in the recesses of the side members and web, the recessesbeing of greatest depth at the center and presentingl inclined surfacesupon which the balls may roll. 2. An elastic wheel, comprising a rigidrim provided on its internal face with a medial web having recesses inits faces adjacent to the rim, a hub, two spring supported disks rigidlysecuredjin the hub and extend- Aing on opposite sides of the web, eachdiskbeing provided on its internal face adjacent to the peripherythereof with yrecesses opposite the recesses of the web, andballs in therecesses of the disks and web, thel recesses being of greatest depth atthe center and presenting inclined surfaces upon.E which' the ballsmayroll. j

l 3.- An elastic wheel,- comprising a vrim provided with an the rimspring side members secured tothe hub .and formed of a ,plurality ofplates different diameters and; overlapping one another, the plate ofgreatest diameter of each side member being provided on its internalface adjacent the periphery withnrecesses opposite the recesses of the'4we b, and

balls in the recesses of the side members andI web, Athe recesses'vbeingv of greatest depth e periphery, with I internal medial web hav-.ing recesses in itspopposing faces adjacentand presenting two series ofrecesses, rigid in respect to said rim, and disposed closely adjacentthereto and facing in opposite directions, the other of said membersincluding ,a hub, and spaced elastic side members secured thereto, andprovided adjacent to said rirn With separate sets of oppositely facingrecesses, each of said last mentioned re-V cesses being opposed to acorrespondlng one of said first mentioned recesses, and a ball in eachpair of opposed recesses, said balls being of greater dlameter than thedepth of said recesses and each recess being of greatest depth at thecenter, and presenting inclined surfaces upon which the balls may roll.l

The foregoing specification of my elastic Wheel signed by me this 14thday of January 1908.

LUC LEON BASILE DENIS.

Witnesses:

AUTLoUR BELENE, MAURICE H. PIGUET.

